Flora and Ulysses: Chapters 28–37

The Criminal Element spoke often, and passionately, about the nefarious activities that every human being is capable of.

Not only did it insist that the human heart was dark beyond all reckoning; it also likened the heart to a river.

Ulysses climbed into the shoe box, and Flora dutifully lowered the lid on his small face.

Flora surreptitiously (The Criminal Element recommended surreptitious action at all possible junctures) removed the lid from the shoe box.

Flora surreptitiously (The Criminal Element recommended surreptitious action at all possible junctures) removed the lid from the shoe box.

The exclamation point made Rita seem untrustworthy, or, at the very least, insincere.

She was acquainted with the profound importance of seal blubber.

Flora felt a very pointed, very specific sense of doom.

At this point, things stopped proceeding at such a leisurely pace.

The squirrel was airborne, and time swung back into action with a vengeance.

She swatted and clawed, trying to dislodge him.

Only moments ago, he had been looking at the Giant Do-Nut menu, captivated by the glossy pictures of food and the dazzling descriptions that accompanied the pictures.

She had a very powerful sense of deja vu.

An eerie quiet descended.

The whole of the Giant Do-Nut became preternaturally calm.

Inside the Giant Do-Nut, there was a moment of deep quiet, of collectively held breath.

The Criminal Element said that sometimes it was wise to put criminals on the defensive by making "slanderous or blatantly untrue comments. The surprising unfairness of this tactic will often stop criminals in their tracks."

The Criminal Element said that sometimes it was wise to put criminals on the defensive by making "slanderous or blatantly untrue comments. The surprising unfairness of this tactic will often stop criminals in their tracks.”

“What if he has a concussion?” she said to her father.
Her father, of course, laughed.
Flora tried to remember what TERRIBLE THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! said about concussions.

There was something about making the person with the head injury speak a favorite nursery rhyme so that speech patterns—slurring, et cetera—could be evaluated.

And then she remembered, in its entirety, an ominous sentence from TERRIBLE THINGS!

"It is absolutely imperative that you keep the potentially concussed patient awake at all times."

The cat Mr. Klaus prowled the hallways of the Blixen Arms, peeing on the residents' doors and vomiting in the stairwells.

Mr. Klaus was also notorious for hiding in the green gloom of the hallways and waiting until some unlucky person stepped out of the door of his or her apartment (or into the main entrance of the Blixen Arms or down into the basement laundry room) and then pouncing on the person’s ankles, biting and scratching and growling—and sometimes (weirdly enough) purring.

"And the smell of fear further incites the predator.”

Ahead of her, her father laughed his hearty and seemingly endless laugh.

An old lady stood there smiling, her dentures glowing white in the perpetual green twilight of the hallway.

She reached out and yanked Flora over the threshold of 267 and into the apartment.

They suggested that you do so at your own risk, and that if you did make the (questionable) decision to enter the home of someone you didn't know, a door to the outside world should be left open at all times to facilitate a quick escape.

The gigantic eye was mesmerizing and beautiful.

They were full of sadness and love and desperation.

“I am the Dr. Meescham who is the doctor of philosophy,” said the voice.

“My husband, the other Dr. Meescham, was the medical doctor. But he has passed away. This is a euphemism, of course. I mean to say that he is dead. He is departed from this world. He is elsewhere and singing with the angels..."

“Shhh, shhh, calm, calm. Why are you so agitated? There is no need to worry. You are worried about what? You will tell me what happened that makes you think concussion.”

“The pupils of his little eyes are not dilated,” said Dr. Meescham.